CAIRO

Panoramic Photograph entitled Egyptian Army Sports at Abbassia Cairo - April 1906, 28.5 x 15.7cms, partly laid down on somewhat grubby album leaf, 28 x 25cms. See Image for details.

Thirty-six works by Cooke are listed between 1790 and 1843. The present item, along with its companion piece ‘Carte de la basse Egypte: dressée d'après les observations astronomiques de C. Nouet, et les reconnaissances des ingénieurs et officiers employés à l'Armée d'Orient’, appeared in ‘Planches du Voyage dans la Basse et la haute Egypte, par Vivant Denon’, published in Paris by P. Didot in 1802. Both have the engraved signature ‘John Cooke, sc, 50 Howland St.’ The dimensions of the map are approximately 31.5 x 23.5 cm.

[1] + 26pp., foolscap 8vo. On twenty-seven leaves held together with a brass stud. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. The covering page is headed with the embossed government letterhead (lion and unicorn in oval) and has the words 'Mediterannean Tour | January, 1946' in the centre, with the signature 'Alec Clifton-Taylor' in blue ink in the bottom right-hand corner. The twenty-six pages of text, carrying a few minor autograph corrections by Clifton-Taylor, are headed with the full title.

The Encylopaedia Britannica gives the background to these items: 'The Neo-Destour was formed in 1934 by discontented young members of the more conservative Destour. After a bitter struggle with the parent organization, it became the predominant party under the leadership of Habib Bourguiba in 1937. It was harassed by French authorities throughout the 1940s and began an armed rebellion in 1953 that led to Tunisian independence in 1956. | A Neo-Destour government was then formed. In 1958 Bourguiba was appointed the first premier of Tunisia, and in 1959 he was overwhelmingly voted president.

On piece of watermarked laid paper 12.5 x 13.5 cm. In fair condition: lightly-aged and creased. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph. Firmly written, with the signature 5.5 cm long. Reads 'A. N. Roussoff | Cairo 1892'. Roussoff famously wagered that he could produce a dozen pastels indistinguishable from those of Whistler. He lost the bet, and was 'obliged to take a course of mud baths after his defeat'.